Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 366: Brainstorming

Once I had my new corpse I immediately used ice magic to freeze it. We would need to make sure it did not deteriorate further. To transport it back to our inn we put it on Garm's back.

"So, what are your plans for this corpse?" Helena asked, as we walked down the road.

"I haven't tried to alter the raise undead spell to create a headless undead so far. I think it could be interesting." I replied.

Garm's left head looked at his back. "Poor thing, it will never know the joy of neckwear."

"Kaito seems quite ok without a neck." Cassie pointed out.

Kaito tipped his head to her. "I am quite pleased with my existence."

Garm's right head studied Kaito. "The frostfire from his neck works as a proper substitute. Have you tried shaping your frostfire in a more fashionable way?"

Kaito looked thoughtful. "Perhaps I should try to form a bowtie, it is a traditional garment for a butler after all."

"The new undead could form a magical head." Skadi suggested.

"I am only going for a tier two. I think it will be hard enough to alter the spell and the corpse is not the freshest." I said.

"Do you need some alchemical help?" Cassie asked.

"Yes, please. We need to clean the corpse. Maybe we can infuse some water and use that to prepare it as well." I said.

"What about blood? You could make a vampiric undead. Maybe it could form a head with blood?" Helena suggested.

"Well, ice or water would work too and those would be easier affinities for me. Do we have something to prepare blood? Or blood for that matter?"

"A butcher could supply us with blood, you can find that easily enough in a city." Skadi stated.

"Hm. For proper preparation I would like some vampiric nightshade seeds. They have worked well for us and your undead." Cassie said.

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Those seeds were a surprisingly useful ingredient. Perhaps because they contained a lot of mana? Cassie had used them in the potion to improve our circulation, we had used them to create Hatsumi and they could apparently be used in drugs. Oh, and explosives.

"Cassie, do you think this 'ruby dream' drug is similar to the potion you created to help us with circulation?" I asked.

"Huh? You mean because it can enhance the user briefly?" Hm. Cassie spent some time pondering that. "I am not sure I would say similar but I haven't studied the drug. It will certainly use some of the same properties. The vampiric nightshade seeds work well with blood and can help you to get your mixture absorbed by the body. And the magic they contain can increase the potency of your potion. The main risk is not processing them properly, you have to ensure there are not any grains of the seed left. They do grow in blood and you don't want a blood drinking plant growing inside your body."

I shuddered at the thought.

"So, are we looking for nightshade seeds then?" Rose asked.

"I think they might be strictly controlled if they are used for drugs." I said.

"Probably." Cassie agreed. "I could get around that as a student and noble but it might take a while. We can ask Helena's father when are at her home."

"I guess I can just go for another draugr, that would be easier." I said.

"How will it fight? Canine claws are not the best weapons, unlike feline claws."

"Meow!" All cats voiced their agreement.

Rose continued: "With the head and the teeth missing it will struggle to fight. Oh, and how will it see, hear or smell?"

"Well, undead function differently. Right?" Helena asked.

"But I do smell through my nose, hear through my ears and see through my eyes." Rose pointed out. "Even Kaito uses his head for those senses."

Kaito's head rotated as it floated above his neck. "Indeed. Although there is always a certain sense of where my body is and I have limited perception through the frostfire in my neck."

"This is why you need to alter the spell." I explained. "Raise undead assumes there is ahead and puts your senses there. I have to admit I am not entirely sure how sight, or smell, really works though. I am hoping I can simply place those senses elsewhere, or replace them? I guess smell is not that important for a tier two but it needs a way to see."

"A giant eye where the neck would be!" Cassie suggested.

"That sounds creepy." I replied.

"What about a replacement head? You could just attach the head from a different creature." Skadi suggested.

"Maybe, I would need one that fits. Also, heads are not just lying around." I pointed out. "I think a magical solution might be the best. Perhaps the undead can simulate an elemental head? I think air would be a great element to perceive its surroundings but I don't have an air affinity."

"Kaito does." Hatsumi pointed out.

I looked at Kaito. "I guess we could try a joint casting but the corpse needs more preparation. We could use mist again, like we did with Kaito, but in his case the lightning affinity from the goblin shaman's corpse did the heavy lifting."

"You want to use alchemy anyway, maybe I can put bubbles in some potion and we soak it a bit?" Cassie suggested. "I will need a lab though."

"That should not be a problem, you can use the same one that you used last year." Helena offered.

The idea of trying to create another undead with an air affinity appealed to me but I would have to see if we could make it work. I also had to figure out how the senses of the new creature would work, then I would need to add proper fighting capabilities. The new creature could serve as a mount but I wanted it to be able to fight as well.

It was evening when we finally returned to our inn. There we found a guard waiting for us who took our statement about yesterday's incident. Then he informed us we were free to leave the city and handed us the money from the bounty.

Overall the incident had not ended too badly for us. We had a productive day and got some money. The interesting corpse even made up for the clothes shopping I had to endure.